Patrice Gopo

Patrice Gopo was the interviewee of a podcast, about writing, that I chose to listen to while on a morning walk around the local park. She is an award-winning essayist who explores the issues of race, immigration, and belonging. I immediately admired her for not only writing but also writing about personal experiences and sharing them with the world. I write often yet hesitate to write about personal experiences that could be shared. Patrice is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants and was raised in Anchorage, Alaska. She has the book All the Colors that We See available in bookstores, which is a reflection upon her journey as a black woman to find belonging and identity in a time of converging heritages. Patrice graduated with a degree in chemical engineering and worked in the field, before, she discovered her passion for writing. An achievement that I find empowering as it relates to gender. Aside from writing, she enjoys encouraging and educating others about the power of personal storytelling.

I respect Patrice for being a writer. Specifically, a writer of personal essays. It is courage that allows one to be open to attacks that could cause emotional reactions. A quality she embodies. As a part-time writer, I am aware of the inner critic, doubts, and fears that are always around to staunch one’s drive for creative fulfillment. It takes discipline and bravery to sit in the chair and put one’s thoughts on the page. It takes self-trust to show up to the page or computer screen every day and write. Writing requires endurance, to continue promoting one’s essays and stories, despite, the flow of rejection letters. These are a few qualities and challenges that make Patrice a woman worth admiring.

The issue that Patrice explores that is of particular interest to me is belonging. Although I’m Caucasian, I feel connected to this issue for two reasons. First, as a person who was born and raised in Pennsylvania and moved to the Southwest, I feel that there are social undercurrents that prevent me from truly belonging to the area. I can almost understand the difficulty Patrice has experienced because the color of her skin made her a minority. Also, about a decade ago, I was deterred from pursuing an engineering degree, which raised the question of gender and career opportunities for me. Patrice has a degree in chemical engineering, and I admire her for this achievement because the field was traditionally a man’s profession. It is great to hear about women breaking barriers and making progress towards equality.

I admire Patrice for her ability and desire to educate others about personal storytelling. She communicates from a place of vulnerability. She truly desires to help others reach their goals and live a fulfilled life. Without vulnerability, one may never change someone’s perspective or motivate others to ask the questions that instigate a search for the answers. Without an expression of vulnerability, Patrice would deter others from seeing the benefits and rewards of personal storytelling.

To this end, I’m delighted that I received the opportunity to become aware of Patrice Gopo. I have an appreciation for her for several reasons. First, she is an accomplished writer, which requires many qualities, for example, discipline, self-trust and endurance. Next, I commend her because she has broken gender barriers by achieving a degree and working in the field of chemical engineering. Lastly, I admire her for her ability to educate others on the power of personal storytelling. She is capable of being successful at this because she expresses from a place of vulnerability, which makes others feel like they both belong and will benefit from this type of writing.